Project 365: October Mosiac

304/365: Halloween

Letters to my sons: Trick or Treat!

Ethan,

You love Halloween so much. It really is your favorite holiday even over Christmas. I just want to soak up these memories and the purity of your excitement and bottle it up to save forever. This was a fun Halloween. You are at an age where you can talk and discuss like a little kid but young enough that the experience is fresh and new. One of the things I never want to forget is the way your little hand felt in mine as we walked along the sidewalk filled with trick or treaters and you happily chatted away about trick or treating and how you were so excited to get "too much candy" and how you LOVED "too much candy!" I also want to remember the excitement shining in your eyes and the way the headlights from passing cars would illuminate your profile and your candy bucket for a second, showing a candy shadow inside that kept growing and growing with every house.



You wanted to stop at each house and have a long drawn out conversation with each person about Halloween, their decorations, more about Halloween, and then you finished each conversation with "Thank you!" or a big enthusiastic "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" You held up the line at each house but I could tell that the adults just loved it. I even heard one say "THIS is what I love about Halloween!" as she laughed.



At one house they had bushes covered in "spider web" and you got very imaginative. You peered into the bushes and announced in a very loud whisper that "something was in there". It was in a happy spooky imaginative voice and you were loving it. It was hard to get you away from the bush to catch up with the others.



I completely planned for you and your brother's costumes to match in color and theme but it was a total accident that Gabi's costume matched with y'all too! Even down to the yellow on Landon's dragon costume! Since you and Gabi were the ones walking up to each door together most people saw you as "Snow White and Prince Charming" instead of the knight and dragon but you didn't seem to care!





Y'all confidently walked up to each house together. A lot of the time y'all ran. We had to remind y'all a few times not to trick or treat at the same house twice. A few times you stumbled and spilled your candy. Your immediate concern was for your spilt candy not your hurt knees. You and Gabi both walked around throwing your arms up in the air yelling "I LOVE HALLOWEEN!"

Landon,

You are still too young to get the whole "fuss" of Halloween but you enjoyed looking around and taking it all in. You were completely unfazed by your costume and even though we were up well past your bedtime you never fussed. You enjoyed "driving" your push car and when we stopped at each house you would bend down and play with the way the grass felt through your fingers. I couldn't have asked for better behavior from you. I know Halloween was a lot to take in but I'm confident that next year you'll be more excited about it. I look forward to seeing the experience through your eyes!

303/365: Something new

"You know what, Mom? You know what? I just love when we do something new!"

You said those words to me after a frustrating art activity. We were working on your fine motor skills and you were getting pretty upset that you couldn't get things perfectly every time. We worked through it and eventually turned to finger painting (which is a miracle that you let paint get on your hands) but I had wondered if it was all worth it to bring out the paint and come up with a new activity. Then, not 30 minutes later as we were snuggling on the couch and working through those feelings you said those words to me. It made everything worth it. I was so glad to hear that in hind-sight, you enjoyed it. You were glad we did something new. It makes me want to keep working up new ways to teach you and get you out of your comfort zone.

302/365: Winding down for bed

301/365: Looking at the pictures

This boy has the right idea- he goes for the cookie cookbook every time! Usually the ones without pictures he dumps on the floor and he continues pulling them out until he finds the cookie cookbook.

Carving Pumpkins 2013

One of our favorite traditions- roasting the pumpkin seeds!

Ethan's pumpkin

Garrett's pumpkin (design selected by Ethan)

Previous year's pumpkins:

2012, 2011, 2010 (and the years prior)

300/365: In the credits

I know I already posted a version of this photo in another post and while I vowed I wouldn't post any image on the blog twice I didn't take any other pictures this day. Besides, this was a big day for us! Garrett is listed under "Lead Lighters" in the movie Free Birds. This is the first full-length animated feature that his company has done.

Free Birds Premiere & After Party

Today was the day of the Free Birds movie premiere! I am so proud of Garrett and all the hard work he and his team-mates put into this movie. It turned out great! It was visually beautiful and the story line was immersive. I whole-heartedly enjoyed it regardless of the fact that my husband worked so many hours on it!



We weren't able to make it out to the first night of the premiere or the grown-up after party but thankfully the week of we manged to switch our RSVP to the family premiere which was the following morning. As much as we worried about how the kids would do it was for nothing. They both did great! Landon got a little wiggly and had to go back and forth between our laps but neither boy made any noise and all 4 of us were able to stay in the theater for the entire movie and credits. Success!

All the kids were given a light-up baby Turkey toy. Ethan is in love with his.

Me and Landon ready and excited to see the show.

Garrett and Ethan. Do I have handsome boys or what?

Ethan ate every last piece of that popcorn. When the movie was finished, Ethan proclaimed it the "Best movie ever!" It was pretty cute.

Check out Garrett's name under "Lead Lighters"!

Landon made it into the credits under the production babies.

After the movie we drove back to Reel Fx for the family day party.

Ethan was excited to get a red balloon kitty. There was also a petting zoo, pony rides, cotton candy, face paint, bounce houses and a hot dog lunch.

Our goodies from today's event! (popcorn container with movie art, light up baby turkeys, posters, fruit snacks, bracelets, and coloring pages with crayons. )

More Pumpkins

These were taken on Oct 4th when the kids and I went to the pumpkin patch with our lensbaby playgroup.